


Wherever you are is called Here

by DeanWinchesterIsTrans



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types, Treasure Planet (2002)
Genre: Force Shenanigans, Happy Ending, Mortis Arc, i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-16
Updated: 2017-11-16
Packaged: 2019-02-03 09:03:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12745200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeanWinchesterIsTrans/pseuds/DeanWinchesterIsTrans
Summary: There are two cyborgs on the R.L.S. Legacy, and Anakin just wants to go home.





	Wherever you are is called Here

**Author's Note:**

  * For [piloting](https://archiveofourown.org/users/piloting/gifts).



> The title is from “When Lost in the Forest” by David Wagner.
> 
> Also a very many thanks to piloting for their help proofing this!

“There’s a slew of cyborgs roamin’ this port. In fact, there’s another cyborg on the crew. Forgot ‘is name, but maybe he’s the one your Bones was lookin’ for?”

A whistle sounded above deck, announcing the launch.

“Eh, off with you, lad, and watch the launch. There’ll be plenty work a-waitin’ for you afterwards.”

Jim ran out onto the deck, and nearly bumped into someone. Human, by the looks of him. Nasty looking scar running by his right eye, and his right arm covered by a glove.

“Woah, watch where you’re going, kid,” he said, then ran off to perform whatever duty he had to get the ship prepared to launch.

The man from earlier walked up to Jim again. A haze of Ethereum had descended upon the deck, a chill sinking deep down into the bones of any creature that had them. “Deck swabbing duty?” he asked with a grin at odds with the grim atmosphere. “My first month with the crew was nothing but that.”

“I’m not a part of the crew,” Jim snapped, smacking the broom against the deck with a wet, petulant flop.

“Ah, you’re our beloved patron, aren’t you? Jim Hawkins, is that right? My name’s Anakin Skywalker.”

“Yeah, I’m Jim,” said Jim brusquely, not exactly in the mood for small talk.

Anakin rolled his eyes at his attitude but didn’t comment. “See ya around, Jim.” He looked out at the murky fog-like Space they were sailing through thoughtfully for a moment as if he saw something Jim didn’t, then walked away.

Jim saw Anakin after that day-night-it’s space who even knows what time it is- a few times, but only really learned what the man’s job was after Silver had gone out sailing one day.

After docking back into the ship, Silver marched straight towards the bunks where Skywalker was. Anakin was sitting on the ground with his glove off for once, using small tools to adjust his definitely-metal right arm. So /he/ was the other cyborg on the crew.

“Skywalker,” Silver commanded.

“Yessir?” Anakin asked. He looked up at Jim and Silver, and the angle made him look strangely small.

“Fix up the sail on this skiff,” Silver ordered. “I noticed a hole in it while I was out. It isn’t a huge problem currently but it could become one in time. Also, recalibrate its balance. I noticed a slight leaning to the left today.”

“Yessir, right away, Sir.” Anakin put his glove back on after finishing up his arm, then grinned up at them. “Want any... improvements?” he offered.

“Can you make it go any faster?” Silver asked with a sly smile.

“Yessir, with pleasure, Sir.” Anakin did a mock bow, winked at Jim, then walked out of the room to work on his newest project.

Later on, while Anakin was working on ‘improving’ the skiff, Captain Amelia walked up to him, and eyed his work distastefully. Jim was scrubbing the other boat nearby. “Mr. Skywalker?” Amelia asked with a tone that conveyed her attitude of ‘what the hell are you doing?’ perfectly.

“Yes, Captain?” Anakin asked, wiping grease off his hands with a rag. “How may I help you?”

“What in blue blazes are you doing?” the Captain hissed.

“Fixing the skiff, ma’am,” Anakin said innocently.

“I was not made aware it was broken,” she informed him with the tone of ‘you are trying her patience.’

“Not necessarily broken, Captain, but there is always room for improvement,” Anakin tried to say as an excuse, with a smile he considered charming.

“Have you ever heard the phrase ‘if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it’?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Well...” Amelia considered his work and raised and crossed her arms. She raised an eyebrow curiously. “I trust you’re the hand behind every after-market alteration on this ship?”

“All of the ones I’ve had time for, yes, Captain.”

“They’re good work,” she admitted. “Possibly one of the few reasons this hunk of junk is still sailing.”

“Thank you, ma’am.” Anakin decided to chance his luck and ask, “May I still fix this skiff?”

“Certainly. Do you think you could talk to Doctor Delbert about his scientific instruments some time? He wants to attach them to the ship somewhere, but I don’t have the faintest idea where to begin.” Despite knowing Anakin would already say yes to anything mechanically related, Amelia decided to add anyways, “It might prove to be a bit of a challenge.”

“Yes, ma’am. I would love to.”

“Good man.”

Jim rarely saw Anakin or Delbert for the next few days, they were so wrapped up in their project.

“So, what brings you around to be a part of this crew?” Delbert asked, hoping to get some sort of answer. Really, Anakin was the newest member of the crew that Delbert had hired, and he didn’t seem to be too close to the rest of them. He was the closest to a mystery on the ship Dilbert could find other than that map.

“Oh, they found me,” Anakin replied, fine-tuning one of Delbert’s instruments. He frowned when he discovered a discrepancy with one.

“Found you? I don’t understand.”

“Yeah, I was floating in the Ethereum and they happened upon me. Picked me up and I’ve been with the crew ever since,” Anakin said, then smacked the device against table once, a Tested Skywalker Technique™, then set it back on the table when the readings leveled out to where they should be.

“How did that happen? How did you get there? I mean— I mean did you get thrown off a ship?”

Anakin just laughed. “You wouldn’t believe me,” he said, smiling sadly. “Everyone I’ve ever told just called me crazy.”

“I am a scientist,” Delbert said resolutely. “If your story is crazy then I’m sure there’s some scientific reason for it seeming so.”

“Alright.” And then Anakin told him. He told him about another galaxy. About a war. About the Jedi, the Republic, and the Force. About a planet, a Father, a Daughter, a Son and a prophecy, and a man too dangerous to remain in his own galaxy. “And then next thing I know I woke up here, surrounded by the Ethereum. Where I come from, there is no Ethereum. It’s just vacuum in space.” Anakin clenched his fists. “I was taken away from everyone I know and love, and I have no idea how to get back.”

“You’re right, that does sound crazy. Are you sure you didn’t just... imagine it?”

Anakin sighed, and looked at Delbert with the weight of the world on his shoulders. “If it was all a dream, would I have this?” Anakin grabbed the metal cylinder from his belt and presented it to Delbert. “That’s my lightsaber. Why would I have that if I made it all up?”

Delbert held the weapon gingerly and examined it. “That— that is quite convincing evidence.” He handed it back.

Anakin clipped the lightsaber back on his belt. “And I can still feel the Force. I can still do this.” Anakin made a gesture with his hand, reaching out, and a wrench came flying over into his hand. He grabbed it, and began working on the instruments again.

“That is also quite convincing,” Delbert replied, not quite believing his eyes. “How— how are you going to get home?”

“I don’t know, doctor. I don’t know if I even can go home, if I ever find it.” A few minutes of relative silence passed. “I’ve thought about sending out a signal, see if anyone could find me. It’s how I got into this mess in the first place, following a signal that shouldn’t exist.”

“Well, why haven’t you?”

“They’re at war. I can’t— I‘m a Jedi Knight, and a General, but they cannot afford to divert resources into finding me.”

“How long has it been since you disappeared?”

“A few years.”

“Maybe the war has ended?”

“Maybe.” Anakin shrugged. “I suppose it’s possible. Truthfully, I don’t know what my galaxy’s like when it’s at peace. I’ve only ever known war.”

Delbert patted Anakin on the shoulder awkwardly. “I think you should send that signal.”

“I’ll work on it. Thanks, doctor.”

The star collapsed and Anakin felt it in his very core. Anakin operated the very rest of the incident more upon instinct than anything else.

Tying lifeline, rope digging into his left palm to /don’t slip don’t slip don’t slip/ but not moving an inch in the right hand’s durasteel /inhuman monster how could he do that to himself/ grip. Securing down sails, running the routine he could do in his sleep, not daring to look down, praying to concepts he believed in a galaxy far far away that he would not slip.

Mr. Arrow falling overboard, that was very significant. It was an Event, Anakin knew that much to be true. He ran over to where Arrow had just fallen, surrounded by a corona of volatile gasses from the star behind them. He was dangling from the lifeline desperately. Anakin blinked, and in that moment he saw the arachnid, Mr. Scroop, very clearly crawl over to his lifeline, a shadow against the sails, and snip Mr. Arrow’s lifeline. Arrow fell, his scream swallowed by the winds.

Anakin saw Arrow’s death, but it hadn’t happened yet.

Now, Mr. Scroop truly began to crawl over to Mr. Arrow’s lifeline. He raised a claw, went to cut the rope and—

“No!” Anakin snarled, Force-pushing the thing off of Arrow’s lifeline. Anakin Pulled the downed Mr. Arrow back aboard the ship, and stalked over to Scroop. He drew his lightsaber and switched it on, ready to do what he must.

The final wave of the star knocked him off his feet, and nearly pulled his saber— /“your life, Anakin”/—from his grip. Anakin put the lightsaber back on his belt in favor of desperately clinging to the nearest secured object.

The ship rocketed out of the black hole’s endless maw, and all the crewmembers cheered. Well, except for Mr. Arrow, Anakin, and the arachnid. These three beings were currently classified in Anakin’s mind as Injured, Weapon, and Dead. The attempted-murderer was in fact not-dead-yet, but the ‘yet’ was more of an afterthought from Anakin’s perspective.

Anakin pulled himself to his feet, marched forward, and held Scroop down with the Force, one hand outstretched as if to choke him, but not yet taking any lethal action. Merely making him uncomfortable. Anakin ignited his lightsaber, and awaited instruction.

Eventually, Arrow recovered enough to move and get the Captain.

“All hands accounted for, Mr. Arrow?” the Captain asked.

Anakin heard this, but it seemed to be a galaxy away. His mind was still reeling from the birth-death-destruction of the star behind them. His attention was caught up in small details, and impossible infinites, not sparing any thought for rational, manageable concepts such as other sentients.

He was breathing heavily, more from anger and power than from the same lack of air as the creature beneath them. He could feel its struggling as easily as his own pulse, and the knowledge that they could both be crushed as easily as the other was strangely grounding.

“Ma’am, everyone is accounted for, but not for long if Skywalker gets his way,” Arrow said, but his words also seemed to be underwater a galaxy or two away.

A lock of hair fell into Anakin’s eyes, but he ignored it. The wood of the ship creaked and moaned as the crew’s footsteps moved closer.

The Captain’s Force signature approached, a swirling energy of golds and turquoise and the soaring sensation of flight and the respect of fifty legions.

“Permission to execute,” Anakin said flatly, not moving from his spot. Scroop began hissing lies about baseless accusations and attacks, but Anakin squeezed his throat a bit tighter and he wisely fell silent.

“Permission denied,” Amelia commanded, “Mr. Skywalker, let him go.” Behind her, the crew whispered of witchcraft and cursed beings that should have been left in the mist from whence they came.

“With all due respect, Captain, I don’t think I should.” Anakin twirled his saber absentmindedly, the weapon just an extension of his own body, which to him meant his body was a weapon too in its own right. He was a weapon. This was by no means what the Jedi Council wanted him to learn, but it was certainly what they taught him. “This crewmember just tried to murder your first mate. Mr. Arrow had fallen overboard, and this scum tried to cut his lifeline. Permission to execute, ma’am.”

“Permission denied, Mr. Skywalker. Back down.”

Anakin let the creature go. The universe wavered from colors-sensations-/power/ back to lowly humanity. “Yes ma’am.” He turned his back, and began to walk away. Coughing and choking, the creature drew his pistol and fired at Anakin. Still breathing in galaxy and life and power, still the weapon he was meant to be, Anakin spun his blade easily, and deflected the shot back at the gun, knocking the gun out of Scroop’s hand and reducing it to steaming scrap. Without turning back, Anakin said simply, “Be grateful I wasn’t aiming for you.”

“Captain, his lifeline was loose! I was trying to help him! That Skywalker is a scallawag, a liar, a traitor!”

“I stand by what I said,” stated Anakin flatly. “Arrow fell overboard, and he was trying to climb up when Scroop tried to cut his lifeline, ma’am. And I will never be a traitor.”

“Mr. Arrow?”

“I saw Mr. Scroop at my lifeline, but I am uncertain of his intent. General Skywalker did pull me back onto the ship, however.”

The Captain hummed. “Resume your posts, everyone. Skywalker, with me.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Anakin replied, dread and apprehension growing.

When out of sight of the rest of the crew, the Captain issued a command Anakin found difficult to comply with. “Hand me your weapon.”

Anakin spluttered. “Captain?”

“Your weapon, Mr. Skywalker.”

“This this this this this is my life, Captain. This weapon is basically all I have.”

“You may have it back when we reach our destination,” she said, as if that made the situation better.

“I—“ Anakin bowed his head, and handed his lightsaber over. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Walk with me,” Amelia commanded, walking away, not bothering to see if Anakin would follow. She knew he would. “This event tonight has shown your loyalties.”

“I was simply trying to stop a murder, ma’am,” Anakin said, walking beside her.

“By way of another murder?” She shot him an amused glance. “You have no love for this crew, do you? You know, I could find history on all of them except for you.”

“My home is... far away from here, ma’am.”

“Why are you still on board, then, if not out of loyalty to your crewmates? The naive doctor payed us all quite a lot up front. Even with the promised end pay, why wouldn’t you get away from all of this at first opportunity?”

“Honor, Captain,” Anakin said plainly. “I said I’d stay with the Captain of the ship and her patrons and I keep my word.”

“Honor?” The Captain was having trouble believing her ears. “You play by the honor system with this crew?”

“Yes, Captain.”

The Captain laughed. “You think of yourself as some sort of real knight, don’t you?”

To her surprise, Anakin said proudly, “Yes, ma’am, I do. I am a Jedi Knight.”

Her expression softened slightly. “That means something very important where you come from, doesn’t it?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

They reached her office. “What do you miss most about where you’re from?”

“My wife, Padmé,” Anakin said immediately, then after a moment added, “All of my other friends, too. Obi Wan Kenobi, I dont know if he’s like a husband, a mother, or a brother to me, but I miss him greatly. I also miss Ahsoka, my apprentice. She’s like a daughter and a sister to me. I miss Rex and the rest of my squadron. We’re brothers in arms. I have a droid, too, R2-D2. I hope they gave him to Ahsoka. They’re all fighting a war back home and I don’t know if they’re alive. I don’t know if the war is still going. I hope they’re safe and alive, no matter what state the galaxy is in.”

They talked for about an hour more or so in the Captain’s office.

“Well, I have second watch tonight, so I should probably be going. Good night, Captain.”

“Good luck, Mr. Skywalker.”

The next morning, upon planetfall, all hells broke loose.

“Pirates, on my ship? I’ll see they all hang,” Captain Amelia announced with finality, cocking a gun. “Doctor, familiar with these?” She handed a gun to Delbert, which promptly went off aimlessly in his hand. She picked up Anakin’s lightsaber, and handed it over to him. “Here, Mr. Skywalker. You can have your laser sword back. Defend that map with your life.”

“Lightsaber, but thank you. I swear to protect you, the doctor, Arrow, Jim, and the map with my life. I forgot the rules of this galaxy again, and your rules of morality. Do you prefer dismemberment, unconsciousness, or can I just kill them.”

Jim stared at Anakin. “You’re willing to kill someone?”

“One, they’re trying to kill us. Two, you don’t know a damn thing about me. I’ll take my running rules as ‘don’t traumatize the kid’?”

“Whatever works, just protect that map and avoid getting yourself killed!”

“Yes, Captain.”

“Can your sword cut through things very well?”

“Yes, Captain, it does.”

“Can you cut an escape hole for us?”

“Sure thing, ma’am.”

Their exit was cramped. Of them all, Mr. Arrow having the toughest time fitting through. The man was built like a boulder, both as a metaphor and in a literal sense.

They finally managed to get off of the ship in one of the longboats. This went well for approximately three seconds.

A laser canon went off on the ship, and they promptly tried to dodge the resulting projectile, to an amount of success that was about a Felucia on Anakin’s crash-landing scale of Textbook Landing™ to That One Time He Piloted a Star Destroyer Directly Into a Blockade Just After Escaping in a Jettisoned Escape Pod. Well, actually, this landing had gone a bit better than Felucia, as this time they still had half a ship remaining, and actually knew they were dealing with pirates before crashing onto the planet. Being surprised by pirates made Felucia arguably worse. In another universe, Anakin would rank the incident of Crashing a Flagship Into Coruscant as just below the Star Destroyer Meets Blockade move, mainly because that’s half a damn flagship crashed into kriffing Coruscant of all planets.

Anakin tried not to think of crashing, because it just made him think about Obi Wan’s resulting lecture for most all of Anakin’s “landings.”

/“Anakin, remind me why I ever let you fly?” “Because you say flying is for droids.” “Flying—oof— is for droids.” “Are you alright, master?” “I’m sure I’ll be fine, Anakin.”/

“Mr. Hawkins, scout ahead,” the Captain said, handing Jim a pistol. “Mr. Skywalker, make sure you both get back in one piece.”

“Something following us,” Anakin said lightly, after hearing something rustle in the foliage again.

“Mhm,” Jim agreed, holding the pistol close to him.

A creature jumped out and screamed.

“Oh! It’s a droid!” Anakin said, sounding far too delighted given the situation. Jim, pinned down by the creature, was not at all pleased.

The robot kept on babbling on and clinging to Jim. Jim shot Anakin a look of ‘please get this robot off of me’ and mouthed ‘help’ but Anakin continued examining the droid with the glee of a kid having been informed school was cancelled due to heavy snow.

“My name is, uh... Be.N.!” the droid declared, finally remembering his own name. “Of course, I’m Be.N.! Bioelectronic Navigator. And you are?”

“Jim,” Jim replied flatly. So far today his emotions ranged from ‘suspicious’ to ‘upset’ to ‘betrayed’ to ‘terrified for his life’ to ‘done’ to ‘even more done’. All usual, healthy emotions for a growing teenage boy. That was sarcasm, by the way. In case it wasn’t obvious.

“Oh, what a pleasure to meet you, Jimmy,” Be.N. declared, shaking his hand. The part of his mind that sorted out and recognized organic emotion was probably missing along with his primary memory circuit.

“It’s Jim,” Jim corrected through grit teeth.

Anakin cut in before either he spontaneously combusted from his excitement about droids or Jim decided to disassemble this one, whichever ended up happening first. “I’m Anakin. Do you run on binary code?”

“Why yes I do, Ani.”

Anakin’s mood changed in an instant. “Don’t call me that. I will melt you down for scrap if you ever call me that again.” There were only a handful of people in the universe that called him by that name, and they were all in a galaxy far far away, and he might never see them again.

“Ooh, sorry. Touched a nerve there, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, a bit,” Anakin bit out.

Jim quickly changed the topic to a more pressing issue such as pirates. And of course Be.N. knew all about pirates, and the treasure.

“It’s all a little- little fuzzy.” Be.N. began to ramble and glitch the more he talked about it, to the point of declaring a reboot sequence.

When he was done, or at least had paused for an unnecessary breath for a moment, Anakin said, “I can fix that. I’m great at fixing things. I mean, without the primary memory circuit, there won’t be much memory to restore, but I could try and sort out the glitches.”

Jim was testing out a new emotion: ‘really really very incredibly done.’ Fascinating. “Look, Anakin, Be.N., I love that you two are getting to be friendly and all, but we really need to find a place to hide, okay?”

Upon watching Jim and Anakin walk away, the robot immediately began to pitch a fit of drama, with the intent of moving the hearts of organics so much they stay behind.

Anakin, Morph, and Jim all traded glances. Anakin, unimpressed (he had seen more dramatics from Threepio and various politicians). Morph, moved nearly to the point of morphing into a puddle of tears (for such an amorphous being this wasn’t very difficult). Jim, deeply moved but trying to hide it (he had been left behind before too).

Jim spoke up first. “Look, if you’re gonna come along, you’re gonna have to stop talking.”

Be.N. immediately began cheering, and Anakin felt a headache developing the likes of he hadn’t felt since the last time he spoke with the representative from Naboo, Jar Jar Binks. Anakin pushed that particular thought out of his mind. Nope, no thinking of anyone from his galaxy. Not today, not now.

Then Be.N. revealed his hiding place, which meant something was finally, finally going right.

Well, there was the matter of them being sitting ducks, strategically. Though the walls were solid, and they were raised up on a hill, nothing screamed “hey look over here” like a fortification. Truthfully, their primary issue would be running out of supplies, and the door would prove impossible to block up if necessary.

Anakin’s main issue was that it would be supremely difficult to go on the offensive, and if the pirates did discover their location, Anakin’s lightsaber would be next to useless over the distance. He would have to wait for them to fire to be of any use. He would have to wait. Patience had never been one of Anakin’s virtues, but he might as well start then.

The moment they all were inside of Be.N.’s hideout, Anakin ordered the droid to sit down, and then began to work on his circuits.

Anakin swore under his breath. This droid was in terrible shape, and that wasn’t even looking at his missing memory. “Why haven’t you kept up on any self maintenance?”

“Self maintenance?”

Anakin swore more. “I don’t know how much more I can do, buddy. Missing your memory circuit has wreaked havoc on your systems.”

“Oh... that’s alright... I understand...”

Anakin didn’t even bother to grace that with a reply. He stood up and walked over to where the Captain and Dilbert were sitting.

“How are we doing?” Anakin asked. He had adopted his General Skywalker With a Wounded Soldier voice.

“Not too well. I don’t know how to help her,” Delbert fussed. “Can your Force do something?”

“Well, there are Jedi healers, but that was never my strong suit. I’m decent at combat medicine, stabilizing someone so they can live to get further help, but I’m at a loss for what to do beyond that.”

“We’ll take anything we can get.”

Anakin knelt by the Captain’s side, closed his eyes, and tried to focus. “Come on come on come on.” He sighed and sat back on his heels. “I’m no use for anything major. I haven’t tried to do that in so long... Her arm is broken, but I think I knocked a few weeks of recovery time off. Several of her ribs are bruised, there’s a couple that are fractured, and one is flat out broken. She is heavily concussed, but she doesn’t have any internal bleeding anywhere, so that’s fantastic. Just try to keep her still, okay? She’s tough and she’ll pull through it with time and rest.”

Be.N., of course, chose this moment to call over the very sentients they were trying to hide from. “Hey, there’s some more of your buddies out there! Hey fellas! We’re over here!” Seriously, how difficult can this be? There are only two groups of organics on the planet, and they’re trying to avoid the pirates. Anyone that isn’t in the hideout is an enemy. The group outside is a bunch of pirates. They’re clearly not friendlies. How is this difficult?

Anakin was once more clearly reminded of Jar Jar Binks. He was going to deactivate that damn droid.

Blaster fire rained in from the opening to their not-so-helpful-anymore hiding spot.

Jim ducked beneath the entrance and fired back at the pirates. Anakin ran over to the door, and activated his lightsaber. He stood up, and all the pirates’ fire was aimed at him. Anakin’s lightsaber blurred, becoming a deadly shield that deflected all shots back at the wielders of their guns. Several pirates fell to the ground, dead.

“Stop wastin’ your fire!” Silver commanded, and the blasts ceased. “Hello, up there!” He waved a white flag up to them. “Jimbo? If it’s alright with the Captain, I’d like a short word with ya. No tricks, just a little palaver.”

Anakin desperately wished for Obi Wan’s negotiation skills right now. Then he wished to hear his voice, to see his face, to feel his presence, to see anyone he loved again. Anakin missed them so badly it felt like there was a gaping hole in his chest.

“Come to bargain for the map, doubtless. Pestilential...” The Captain tried to sit upright, but hissed in pain before she could do much.

“That means... that he still thinks we have it,” Jim said with a spark of an idea in his eye, then he marched out to meet Silver.

Anakin groaned and slumped against the doorway. “Times like these, I really miss Obi Wan.” At everyone’s confused looks, he said, “He’s the best negotiator in the galaxy. He could have been kidnapped by a Troydarian and walk free out of there with established trade routes, proclaimed loyalty to the Republic, a peace treaty, and a formal apology letter for any inconveniences he experienced.”

“He sounds impressive,” Delbert admitted.

“He really is. I love him. Never told him that ‘cause Jedi aren’t supposed to have attachments, but I really do love him.”

The Captain tried to sit up again. “How is Jim doing?”

Anakin peered over the wall. “He seems fine.”

Be.N. oh so casually mentioned a back door.

“There was a back door the whole kriffing time?” Anakin muttered.

Be.N. continued to babble about breezes.

“Hey, Doc!” Jim called. “Doc, I think I found a way out of here!”

“No, no, Jim, wait! The Captain ordered us to—!”

Jim cut Delbert off. “I’ll be back,” he said, then jumped in.

“Cannonball!” Be.N. declared, leaping in after him.

“I assume you’re going with them?” Delbert asked Anakin resignedly.

“Following orders was never my strong suit,” Anakin admitted, then mock saluted, then jumped in right after them.

The tunnel opened up just next to the pirates’ camp. The hatch was nearly rusted shut, and all sorts of plants had grown over it in time. A fire crackled in the center of the pirates’ camp, and their boat hovered on the other side. They didn’t even have anybody set up for a watch. Apparently they didn’t figure that any of them would be as stupid as to approach a bunch of pirates, awake or not. Go figure.

“So what’s the plan?” Be.N. shouted, and Anakin was two seconds away from melting him down to make some useless object that would get them into less trouble than this fucking droid.

Thankfully, Jim covered Be.N.’s mouth before he could say much more, and the pirates only shifted in their sleep slightly.

“Okay, here it is. We sneak back to the Legacy, disable the laser cannons, and bring back the map.”

“That’s a good plan,” Be.N. said, his voice muffled by Jim’s hand keeping his mouth shut. “I like that plan. The only thing I’m wondering is how do we get up there?”

“On that,” Jim whispered, pointing up at the pirates’ boat tied down nearby.

Anakin grinned. “Aw, you’re crazy, kid, I like you.”

They successfully snuck around the sleeping pirates, reached the boat, untied it, and piloted it up to the Legacy.

The impromptu stealth group of Be.N., Jim, Anakin, and Morph then peered over the deck of the ship. The coast was clear. They hopped over the side. Jim and Anakin, noiselessly. Morph, floating along anyways, so technically silently. Be.N., fell and made so much noise so dramatically he could have been in an infomercial. Not that this universe had any concept of an infomercial, though.

“Okay, I’ll get the map. You wait here,” Jim whispered as they descended a flight of stairs.

“Rodger, Jimmy. I’ll neutralize those cannons, sir!” Be.N. declared enthusiastically before wheeling off down the hall, singing to himself.

Anakin shot Jim an exasperated look. “I’ll help him with the cannons. Good luck.” Before Anakin could think much about it, he added, “May the Force be with you.”

“Disable a few laser cannons. What is the big deal?” Be.N. said, clearly misunderestimating exactly how much technology it takes to properly keep a ship up in the air. “All we gotta do is find that one little wire.”

Be.N. opened up the cabinet doors covering the access panel. There were hundreds of wires. Fuck.

“Okay, these... go to the solar sails. These go to the thrusters... These go to the gravity— no don’t pull that one— shit.” The alarm began to blare, and Anakin jammed it back into its socket. Anakin spun to Be.N. and snarled, “Don’t. Touch. Anything.”

Be.N. pulled out another wire, and the lights all shut off.

“What the fuck did I just say?!” Anakin asked him, then grabbed his lightsaber, using it as an overqualified glowstick to try and put the wire back.

Be.N. got in his way again before Anakin could try and muttered, “This has gotta be cannons,” pulling out the one Anakin had just pointed out to control the artificial gravity. “Maybe not.”

“No SHIT!”

Be.N. eventually pulled all the wires simultaneously, which deactivated the cannons. Probably. Hopefully. It was a miracle they didn’t just drop out of the sky right then and there, drawn to the planet’s irresistibly axiomatical gravitational pull.

Be.N. rushed out to the deck to find Jim. “Laser cannons disconnected, Captain Jimmy, Sir,” he called up to Jim, who was currently located in the crow’s nest. “Gee, that wasn’t so tough.”

Anakin raised an eyebrow at Be.N.’s declaration of ease. “We’re all good, kid.”

When they got back, the lights were dark in the hideout, which wasn’t too strange. It might not even have any lights at all. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Anakin said nonetheless, reaching for his lightsaber.

“Doc! Doc, wake up!” Jim said to the dark, not sharing Anakin’s worries. “I’ve got the map!”

A mechanical hand reached out from the shadows. “Fine work, Jimbo,” Silver praised, “Fine work indeed.”

Anakin drew his lightsaber, and Jim tried to run. Two pirates held Jim still, and the rest advanced on Anakin. Fairly, Anakin might be able to defeat them all. But there also were the hostages to consider.

Truthfully, Anakin couldn’t comprehend how they managed to tie up Mr. Arrow. Captain was injured, and the doctor had no experience, but Arrow? Perhaps he had been asleep.

“We aren’t at war here, General,” Silver crooned, as one of his men held a pistol to Jim’s head. “Why don’t you put your pretty sword away and we won’t hurt anybody.”

Anakin deliberated. His eyes darted around the room, cataloguing every threat. He came to the conclusion that the hostages would be dead before Anakin could reach them, or take any other action other than surrender to prevent their deaths. Damn.

Anakin shut off his lightsaber, despite still being every inch the weapon he was meant to be even without his saber, and handed it over to Silver, who then handed it to another pirate that stashed it in his pocket in a manner he probably thought appeared secretive.

“Onto the ground.” Anakin was shoved to the ground. “Tie ‘em up.” Gagged, and hands bound behind him.

“Is this entirely necessary?” Anakin asked, but it came out more as “if fish in tire knee nefefary.”

The pirates laughed at his attempt, but stayed warily a good distance away from him, as most still thought he was a witch. As a Jedi, Anakin should not have enjoyed their superstition. He did anyways.

Jim reluctantly opened the map for the pirates, but closed it again when the pirates began to follow the trail. “You want the map? You’re taking me too,” Jim declared resolutely.

Anakin beamed with pride. He barely knew the kid, but damn he’s smart. A pirate eyed him and his bared teeth nervously, and inched away. Good.

Silver chuckled. “We’ll take them all.”

Most of the crew left the ship to follow the map, but one stayed behind with Dilbert, the Captain, Mr. Arrow, and Anakin. The remaining pirate held a gun up to them, but stayed cautiously on the opposite side of the boat.

There were a few good things about this.

1.) Anakin could easily take out the pirate. The pirate’s stature was a bit daunting, but he was just asking to be pushed off the boat sitting like that.

2.) This was the pirate that had taken his lightsaber. Anakin could have his weapon, his life, back.

There were also a few bad things.

1.) Civilians. The Captain wasn’t exactly inexperienced, but she was no soldier, and heavily injured to boot. Mr. Arrow might be of help, but Anakin didn’t know enough about him to judge accurately.

2.) Anakin really wouldn’t know what to do from there. If he was free or tied up he still wouldn’t know how to help the kid.

3.) Anakin didn’t know how to get his hands untied. His usual method of getting out of bonds was “lightsaber” and he couldn’t figure out the ties for the life of him.

4.) Anakin was out of practice, and he was too busy trying to forget what Ahsoka, Rex, Padmé, or Obi Wan might say or do in this situation to /think/. In his distraction, he almost missed Dilbert saving the day by slipping his narrow wrists through his bonds.

Staring off into the forest, Anakin said, “Oh! Something happened. There was Something very important that just happened. A... a door? A door... Home! Oh, Force, it feels like home. I think I’m gonna go home.” Anakin continued to mutter to himself, staring off into the middle distance of the forest. “Maybe...”

It was only Delbert shaking his shoulder to make Anakin snap out of it.

“We must go now!”

“Right, right.” Anakin staggered to his feet and wiped tears off his face that he was not acknowledging, nope, no sir. “Let’s go.”

Really, everything was going fine until the planet started to fall apart.

They had gone up the the large ship, check. They had gone back to the planet and picked up Be.N, check.

Now hell seemed to have broken loose.

“You’re doing fine, doctor,” the Captain advised while Delbert was steering the ship. “Now ease her over gently— gently.”

Delbert bumped the ship against the cliff anyways, despite the Captain’s advice. He had been relegated to steering as the Captain was too Injured to stand, Mr. Arrow was down with the hostages, and Anakin had let Delbert take the first shot anyways. He was now regretting the decision.

“Let me take the wheel, doctor,” Anakin said urgently, pushing Delbert away. “Go snuggle with your girlfriend.”

“She’s not my—!” Delbert glared at Anakin, but the way he and the Captain looked at each other reminded him of Obi Wan and Satine, so Anakin desperately turned his attention back to the task at hand.

Flying shrapnel shot through the highestmost solar sail. Oh, fuck. The mast fell and knocked out the thrusters. Shit.

“Thrusters at only 30% capacity!”

“30%? That means we’re— We’ll never clear the planet’s explosion in time,” Delbert said.

Anakin’s shoulders slumped. He felt as if he were filled with despair, as if he were a ghost walking. He looked out at the fiery horizon, and remembered all that he loved. His hope of ever seeing them again seemed to burn and erode along with the planet. Ever seen a Jedi with no hope? It’s not pretty.

“I really wanted to see Padmé again before I died,” Anakin said hollowly.

“You’ll get to see her, Mr. Skywalker, of that I assure you, now get us out of here!”

“We gotta turn around,” Jim said.

“What?” the Captain asked.

“There’s a portal back there. It can get us out of here!”

“Well, you heard him!” Silver yelled. “Get this blasted heap turned ‘round!”

“Yessir!” Anakin said, then spun the ship’s wheel with reckless abandon.

“Woah! Anakin, be careful!” Delbert cautioned as the ship pitched hard.

“No offense, but doctor,” Anakin shot Delbert a look with dangerous desperation filling his eyes, the fires of the self-destructing planet reflected in them. “I’ll be careful when I can kiss my loved ones again.”

They soared through the portal without a second to spare. Wind, flaming debris, and molten gold shot out from behind them. Everyone, even the pirates locked in the brig cheered. The crescent-shaped spaceport gleamed ahead of them.

Anakin slumped to the ground with a half smile stuck to his face, then he said softly “oh” remembering the opportunity lost, and tears started to well up in his eyes. He sniffed, and wiped his eyes. Not now, not now.

He stood up, brushed nonexistent dirt off his pants. He walked down to Delbert, Mr. Arrow, the Captain, and Jim. “Great flying, kid.”

“Mr. Skywalker? Are you alright?”

“I’ll be fine, Captain, it’s just that maybe I could’ve... maybe I could’ve used that portal to find my way home.”

“None of that sad talk, Anakin,” Delbert admonished. “What about the signal you set up?”

Anakin shrugged, and tried to smile. “No response. I guess... I don’t know. I don’t know. It was a nice thought, but—“

Static. Static came in over Anakin’s radio. He was still wearing his old arm bracer, and he had rigged the comm on it to send out a signal and /he was getting a reply/.

“—nakin? Anakin? Come in, Anakin, please come in.”

Obi Wan.

Anakin hurriedly hit reply. “Obi Wan! Obi Wan, please tell me I’m not dreaming or hallucinating this. Please tell me that’s actually you.”

“Yes, Anakin, it’s me, along with a couple other people who have been looking for you.”

“Sir!” “Ani!” “Skyguy!” “Master Ani!” all came in over the communicator, along with a binary message that vaguely translated to “where the fuck have you been?”

Anakin choked back a sob. ”Do you have a fix on my location?”

“Yes, and we should be there in about an hour,” Obi Wan said. “Are you crying?”

“Shut up,” Anakin said, not certain if he should be laughing, crying, or both. “Can we just keep the line open?”

“Of course, Anakin.”

“How is—“ Anakin sniffed. “How is everything back home?”

“That,” Padmé’s voice cut in, “is a very long story I’d like to tell you in person. How have you been?”

“Yeah, what have you been up to, Skyguy?”

Anakin laughed. “You wouldn’t believe me.”

“Try us, sir.”

“Okay.” And he told them. He told them of a Father’s proclamation of a man too dangerous to be kept in this galaxy, of a whispered promise to return him when it was time. He spoke of an awakening in mist, of breathing in stardust. He spoke of creaking ships sailing across space, and a rough band of pirates. He spoke of a Captain, a doctor, a robot, and a brave, brave kid. He spoke of collapsing stars. He spoke of a planet with a doorway to anywhere, and the treasure of a thousand worlds. He spoke of narrow escapes. He spoke of missing his loved ones so much his chest ached.

“I can’t believe you had that cool of an adventure without us!” Ahsoka complained goodnaturedly.

“Yeah, you should know better than to do something death-defying without us, sir,” Rex added.

“Sorry,” Anakin laughed, “I’ll try to notify you all before I go off doing something that could get me killed next time.”

“You had better, mister,” Padmé lectured. “I missed you,” she added softly.

“I missed you too.”

At the time Obi Wan had said, a ship, one so clearly from Anakin’s galaxy he could feel it in his bones, landed at the spaceport. The passengers disembarked, and Anakin shoved his way through the crowd to his friends, his family.

He picked Padmé up and spun her around, then she surged forward and kissed him. Anakin kissed back, of course, but then he looked over at the other members of her crew anxiously.

“Um...”

“We know, Anakin,” Obi Wan stated, raising his eyebrows. Every member of Padmé’s crew seemed very self-satisfied at knowing about Anakin and Padmé’s marriage. Damn.

“Oh, um.” Anakin rubbed the back of his neck. “How long?”

“You’re not exactly subtle,” Ahsoka said, smirking. “But Padmé told us a year after you disappeared.”

Anakin was fairly certain his face was bright red. “Oh.”

Padmé kissed him again.

“I love you,” Anakin said softly.

“I love you too,” Padmé said, grinning wildly.

Ahsoka groaned loudly, but she was still smiling. “Ugh you guys are so GROSS.”

Anakin stuck his tongue out at her.

“Can we talk somewhere other than an open marketplace?” Padmé asked, holding Anakin’s hands. “A new world is beautiful and fascinating and all, but I’d rather not shout over a crowd. We have a lot to talk about.”

At this moment, Jim walked over with a woman Anakin assumed to be his mother, and the rest of the crew.

“Would you all like to come to my house?” Delbert asked, his hands interlaced with the Captain’s. Awww. “I’m sure you have a lot to talk about, and I’d love to hear about your galaxy.”

Padmé smiled graciously. “Thank you very much, Mr....?”

“Doctor! Doctor Delbert Doppler.”

“Lovely to meet you. I’m Padmé. This is Rex, Obi Wan, Ahsoka, Threepio, and Artoo.”

“Jim, what’s the chances of this getting stolen?” Anakin asked, waving at the spaceship.

Jim wrinkled up his nose at the hunk of metal. “What the heck is that thing?”

“I’ll take that as we shouldn’t worry about it getting stolen.”

And so they went to Delbert’s house, and they sat, and talked.

“So what happened after I,” Anakin made a vague gesture with his hands, “disappeared.”

And then his friends told him a story.

“Well,” Ahsoka said, sitting backwards in a chair, clearly deviating from the intended posture for said chair, “the Father didn’t give us any explanation of what he did. He simply gave some vague prophecy and sent us on our way. The Son and the Daughter actually calmed down a lot after you had left.”

“It hurt with you gone,” Obi Wan said, not making eye contact with Anakin, or anyone for that matter. “It was like there was a bleeding hole in the Force where you had been. Ashoka collapsed because of your bond, and I experienced... some troubles.”

A story of loss.

“With you gone, the 501st was assigned to General Krell,” Rex reported.

“Oh no,” Anakin whispered. He had heard stories of course of the feared and revered General Krell. He had a high success rate, but at the cost of the highest casualty rate of any other General in the entire Army of the Republic. Anakin usually prided himself on his squadron’s high success rate in concurrence with its usually low casualties.

“In an attack on Umbara... He ordered us against each other. We attacked our own men in the fog. We didn’t even know. Krell admitted it to us freely. I tried to execute him for treachery against the Republic.” Rex sighed. “I couldn’t do it, but Dogma did.”

“Oh, Force.”

“After that we had lost so many troops, all remaining clones were assigned to General Kenobi.”

A story of betrayal.

“So, if the 501st were put with Obi Wan... Did Obi Wan become your master?” Anakin asked Ahsoka.

“Well,” Ahsoka said, “actually, I left the Order.” She said this in the particular tone one’s voice takes when addressing a painful subject. This is also identified as the tone one’s voice takes when trying not to cry.

“What?” Anakin asked, stunned. He never thought— never wanted to think— that Ahsoka would leave the Order. Several times she had been the only reason he stayed in the Order instead of just running away and not giving a damn. “What happened? Why?”

“I was blamed for an attack on the Jedi temple. None of the masters would come forward and stand up for me. I was expelled from the Order, then sentenced to death by the Republic for something I never did.” Ahsoka’s voice broke as she said, “Nobody stood up for me. I ran. I left the Order.” Ahsoka sniffed, and muttered a soft “thank you” as Delbert passed her a handkerchief.

“They... they wouldn’t stand up for you?” Anakin asked softly. He turned to Obi Wan with heartbreak and betrayal written plainly on his face. “You wouldn’t stand up for her? None of you?”

“Anakin...” Obi Wan tried to rest a hand on Anakin’s shoulder, but Anakin knocked his hand away.

“Don’t touch me!” Anakin stood up quickly, his chair loudly scraping across the floor as he did so. “Was the Council so blind, so corrupt as to convict an innocent padawan?” he snarled. ‘Righteous fury’ would be an apt description of Anakin’s bearing, posture, tone, and even his very appearance in the Force at this time.

“You weren’t there,” Obi Wan said softly, desperately. “You don’t understand. You don’t know.”

“No, I wasn’t there, but you can bet your ass I’d stand up for her no matter what the situation was!” Anakin will, always and forever, view the actions of those he loves as correct and just. He is never more lost than when those dearest to his heart disagree. “Damn you and your Council!”

A story of corruption.

“Ani, there’s more to the story,” Padmé said. “Please sit down.” Anakin, never one to say no to her, sat down, but in a seat further from Obi Wan and closer to Ahsoka. “A defect had developed in a clone trooper. Fives investigated this, discovered the defect to be caused by an inhibitor chip found in each clone trooper. He then reported it to Obi Wan. Obi Wan then began removing the chips from every clone. It took a while, but they were eventually all removed.”

“What were they?” Anakin asked, uneasy about anything dealing with chips and implants. Unconsciously, he raised a hand to touch the scar over his heart where his slave tracker chip had been until it was removed all those years ago.

“They had been designed and put in by Palpatine,” Rex said. “The chips provided for a number of actions. One order was capable of making every single clone turn against any Jedi in sight.”

“What?” Anakin was horrified. “Why would Palpatine do that?”

A story of lurking control.

“The Jedi got a lead on Dooku,” Obi Wan said instead of answering Anakin’s question. “We fought him, and he was killed, but not before warning us of a traitor in the Republic. He said that Chancellor Palpatine was the Sith Lord we had been looking for.”

Anakin laughed. The idea was absurd! “The Chancellor? You’re lying!”

“Would I lie about this?” Obi Wan demanded. “Search your feelings, Anakin.” He reached forwards and grabbed Anakin’s hands. “I’m not lying to you.”

Anakin looked into his eyes and felt his truth ringing through the Force like a bell. “I— I believe you,” he said hesitantly, “but it doesn’t make any sense.”

“But it does!” Obi Wan insisted. “We’ve had our connection to the Force obscured by the dark side for so long we couldn’t sense him!”

“But— but why? I thought the Sith were allied with the Separatists.” Anakin’s black and white view of the universe was amassing far more variants on muddled gray than Anakin would have liked.

“So did we. Think about it, Ani,” Padmé implored, and once again Anakin couldn’t say no. “Who’s been pushing the war effort the most this whole time?”

“The Chancellor and Dooku, but—“

“Sith are violent, thrive off chaos, want power and control of the universe, and want to destroy the Jedi,” Ahsoka pointed out, “What better way to do that than with a galaxy-wide war?”

A story of the Sith.

“What did you do? I mean— I mean, what?”

“Well, we asked Palpatine, of course,” Obi Wan said.

Anakin snorted. “What, like, ‘hello Chancellor are you by any chance the evil Sith Lord we’ve been looking for?’”

Obi Wan shrugged. “Basically. And he admitted to everything. Being Sith, implanting the chips, orchestrating the war, everything. He said that he would have hidden all of it longer, that he would have told his new apprentice when the apprentice was at his most vulnerable. We reminded him Dooku was dead. He said he knew that. He informed us that Dooku was just a pawn all along. He was meant to be your first cold blooded kill, Anakin.”

“What, me?” Anakin spluttered. He felt disgust rising up in his throat, terror clawing its way across his ribs, and apprehension shuddering down his spine.

Obi Wan nodded grimly. “He said you were to be his apprentice, that your prophetic dreams would surely tell you of he danger he would put your wife in. He claimed that with her in danger, you would swear yourself to him. Palpatine said that after he killed Padmé, you would have no reason to fight back under his control.”

A story of an intended apprentice.

“Then Palpatine attacked. He tried to invoke Order Sixty-Six, and force the clones to turn on their Jedi, but their chips had been removed already. He was outnumbered, and he was killed in battle.”

Padmé picked up there. “After Palpatine’s death, Bail Organa was elected chancellor. With Palpatine and Dooku gone, we were finally able to settle issues diplomatically rather than with weapons. The Kaminoans and the Banking Clan certainly put up a fight because of the high stakes they had in the war, but democracy won out. Our galaxy is at peace, yet we are still left to pick up the pieces.”

A story of the aftermath of a great, terrible war burning across an entire galaxy.

“With peace ruling out, the clones integrated into society,” Padmé said. “There have been issues with that—“

“‘Cause people are stupid,” Anakin interjected sulkily.

“— which are still being addressed.”

“Master Yoda has since retired to Dagobah,” Obi Wan said. “He was a bit sick of other sentients.” Obi Wan then stared at his hands for a while and sighed. “I, um, am actually the new Jedi Grandmaster.”

“What,” Anakin said flatly, barely processing the words, then grinned a moment later. “Are you serious?”

Obi Wan nodded, if a bit sheepishly. “I have made a few doctrine changes,” he said plainly as if he hadn’t just admitted to changing the rigid doctrines of a group that had years and years of history. “First measure was tracking down Ahsoka and giving her a heartfelt apology, and telling her she is still welcome back any time.”

Ahsoka rolled her eyes. “I appreciated the gesture, but I turned him down for now, at least.”

“Force sensitivity testing is no longer mandatory, and neither is training. We train Force sensitives of all ages. We have a lot more coming in from the Outer Rim, actually, due to increased Jedi presence.”

“I helped pass several more anti-slavery laws and they are actually being enforced by Jedi now,” Padmé said proudly. “They’re actually um referred to as the Skywalker laws. After you died senators were constantly giving empty speeches, and if I heard ‘he did his duty’ one more time I was going to scream. So I introduced a new bill in your honor.”

“Oh,” Anakin softly said. “Thank— thank you.”

Padmé leaned over and kissed his cheek, making Anakin blush profusely, and Ahsoka once again make a grossed-out face.

“That’s really the only police action we’re taking by this point,” said Obi Wan. “The war is over, so the galaxy is now heavily focused on expansion of medical science and technology.”

A story of a new era.

“Deep space exploration has been the most prevalent field of research, which is how we could get here so fast after receiving your signal,” Rex explained.

“It also helped that it could be you out here,” Padmé said, but Anakin could scarcely believe her. The galaxy caring so much about him that his presence could help provide support for the impossible? Unlikely in Anakin’s mind, but it was what Padmé was saying, so it also must be true. “Our request for a trip was almost immediately passed.”

“So that’s how we got here,” Ahsoka summed up, then smiled with the excitement of ten suns in her eyes. “Can we go on your ship?” she asked brightly. “It looks so cool.”

The Captain, who had been silent up until now, replied, “The large ship might have to wait a bit, Mrs. Tano, until we can get another crew, but you probably could rent a smaller boat for the afternoon.”

“Awesome!”

A story of now.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey let me know if you want an epilogue or something. I hope you liked it!


End file.
